From U.S. Senate races to state abortion initiative: Stories you may have missed

Republicans win majority in the U.S. Senate

The 2024 General election brought a change of leadership not only to the Presidency but also to the U.S. Senate, with the Republican Party taking the majority away from the Democrat Party.

CNN reports that the Republicans will hold at least 52 seats in the chamber, while the Democrats will hold at least 44 seats, including one independent senator in their total.

According to Fox News, this leadership change comes as the Republicans have flipped three Senate seats in Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia so far.

Several prominent incumbent Republicans also maintained seats in the Senate.

CBS News reports that Texas Senator Ted Cruz faced a competitive race from Democratic U.S. representative Colin Allred but ended up securing his third term in office and garnering 53.1% of the vote to Allred’s 44.5%

NBC News reports that in Tennessee, Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn secured her second term in office, beating out Democrat challenger and state representative Gloria Johnson. Blackburn received 63.8% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 34.1%.

While Democrats are preparing for two years in the minority of the Senate, current Democrat Majority leader Chuck Schumer, according to CNN, is committed to working with the upcoming Republican majority.

“As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles - and the next two years will be no different.” Schumer said.

Abortion Ballot Initiatives pass in several state elections

Abortion has been an issue that is prominent in many U.S. elections. A poll conducted by Fox News says that 11% of voters viewed abortion as the most important issue facing the country.

This election cycle was extremely consequential for abortion, as this election saw the highest number of statewide abortion-related ballot measures in a single year, according to Time.

In 10 states across the country, voters weighed in on the topic of abortion, deciding whether or not to allow abortion protections into their state constitutions.

The 10 states voting on these measures were Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Florida, New York, and Maryland, according to the New York Times.

Seven out of the 10 states voted to add the right to an abortion to their state constitution, while the three states of South Dakota, Nebraska and Florida rejected these proposed amendments.

In Nebraska, there were two initiatives being voted on regarding the issue of abortion, according to USA Today. While Nebraskans rejected the proposed amendment for abortion rights, they voted yes on an amendment that would ban abortions after the first trimester, except in cases of medical emergency, sexual assault or incest.

Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project said in a statement to the Washington Post that the state ballot measure results were mixed.

“I don’t think that there is a supporter of abortion rights in America who is waking up thrilled today, given the federal landscape.” Hall said. “It is incredible that in a country that has such a deep rightward shift, almost coast to coast, voters in Missouri - one of the reddest states in the country - rallied together, put a question of a right to abortion on the ballot and passed it.”